Rotary clothes-drying apparatus



June 20, 1950 F. LA PIANA ROTARY CLOTHES DRYING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 11, 1946 2 Sheeis-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. FRANK LA P/ANA UfMM Bin. ATTOR/YE Y.

June 20, 1950 F. LA PlANA 2,512,496

ROTARY CLOTHES DRYING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 11, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY.

Patented June 2Q, 1950 r u lTjensrA Es PATENT OFFICE 2,512,496 J ROTARY CLOTHES -DRYING APPARATUS v i Frank La Piana, Alhambra, Calif. Application December 11,1946, SerialNo. 715,390

such moving parts, with consequent deterioration of the drier, and an object of .thisinvention is to reduce to a minimum such disadvantages.

It is an important feature of driers of the kind described when used in the open air that they should be arranged to be rotated or swung about the vertical axis of the center post by the Wind or 'air currents thus hastening the drying of the clothes, it will be appreciated that rust will rapidly impair the freedom of rotation of the drier, and an object of my invention is to reduce such impairment to a minimum.

It is an object of the invention to provide a clothes drier of the kind described provided with means ensuring freedom of-rotationof the projecting arms on the center post.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a clothes drier of the kind described which is provided with means preventing dampness or moisture from causing deterioration of the drier.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a rotary clothes drier for outdoor use, of simple and sturdy construction requiring little or no maintenance.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention may appear from the accompanying drawings; the subjoineddetail description, and the appended claim. v The accompanying drawings illustrat the .in-

vention in a form I at present deem preferable..

. I Figure 1 is an elevation; oi th'efclothes. drier of my invention, 'a' concrete footing being shown in section.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the clothes drier.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view on an enlarged scale showing a support member thereof.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation on a larger scale of the part shown in Fig. 3, a portion being broken away to show interior construction.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail, partly in section, of the rotary head construction of the drier.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail showing the 2 method of attaching supporting rods to the arms of the drier.

Referring now to Fig. 1 the drier comprises a vertical standard I!) secured in any convenient manner to a concrete block l2 sunk in the ground l4. The attachment shown in Fig. 1 comprises a plate l6 welded to standard 1 0 and bolted to the concrete block, enabling the drier to be readily removed if required.

Atthe upper end of standard [0 a rotatable head I8 is mounted supporting laterally projecting arms 20. The rotatable head l8 carries a vertical stem 22 at the top of which is mounted an attaching member .24 to which one end of bracing rods are secured to the laterally projecting arms 20. I

As will be seen from Fig. 2 a series of concentrically arranged circles of wire or cord 28 are positioned by passing through holes 30, formed in the arms 20,, and the ends of the wires are tied together or to the arms 20.

The invention is particularly directed to the provision of a simple grease retaining construction of the bearings for the rotatable head l8 as shown in Fig. 5 from which it will be seen that an anti-friction bearing 52 is carried above a plate 32 welded to seal the lower end of a length of tube 34 screwed into the small end of a reduction union 36, the large end of which is screwed onto the top of standard In. The tube 34 above plate 32 forms the bearing housing A.

The rotatable head I8 may be formed as a casting having radially projecting tubular stubs 3B and a central recess 40 which is a close sliding fit on the top of tube 34.

'42., Nut 44 bears against the top of a cylindrical threaded extension 48 of the head I8 and tightens shoulder 50 on shaft 42 against the top wall of recess 40 in the head.

I The radial and thrust roller bearing 52 is fitted intoit he bottom of the housing in which the bearing is mounted and acts to locate the lower end of shaft 42 which passes into the center bore of the bearing. A radial load ball bearing 54 is pressed into the upper part of the bearing housing and serves to guide the shaft 42 at a point spaced from the lower bearing 52.

The shaft 42 has a press fit into the inner cone of bearing 52, and a filler plate or washer b spaces the bearing 52 from plate 32, so that the shaft 42 will not engage the lower end of the bearing housing or grease retaining chamber A,

2,512,496 if-F f the lower end of which is closed by the plate 32.

The two point guiding of shaft 42 accurately aligns head member It for rotation with a minimum of friction with the upper end of tube 34. The bearing housing A forms a closed receptacle which may be packed with grease, since the load carried by the bearing is relatively small and the grease cannot be deteriorated by water or dirt since the upper end is closed by head [8 and the grease lubricant will last for an indefinite period.

The cylindrical extension 48 is provided with a screw thread and a further length of tube formin a tubular stem 22 is secured to extend ver-- tically from the rotatable head by a threaded union 55 engaging with the threaded cylindrical extension 48 and with the threaded lower end of tubular stem 22.

The upper end of tubular stem 22 (Fig. 4) is also threaded as at 22' and the brace attaching member 24 is screwed on the threaded end 22. The upper end of the tubular stem 22 is closed by a cap 58, threaded onto threaded end 22'.

The laterally projecting arms 20 are formed from lengths of tube threaded at both ends. One threaded end of each arm is screwed into a threaded portion of each tubular stub 38 and a threaded cap 69 is screwed onto the outer ends of the arms 20.

The construction of the brace attaching member 24 and of the connection of the bracing the wall 24a to the center portion of the base 241::

of the cup shaped attaching member 24. The base 24k of member 24 has a threaded opening 24h enabling the member 24 to be screwed down upon the threaded upper end 22'of the upstanding stem 22 to the base of the threads thereon, where it is secured by such threading and engagement with a tight'fit with the stem 22.

An opening 2M between the ribs and extend ing through the bottom of the attaching member 24 prevents rain and moisture from accumulating therein, and as the ribs 24b terminate short of the threaded opening 24h all water accumulated therein will flow to, and drain from the cup shaped attaching member 24, through the opening 24%.

, provision of simplified construction, and of as- The bracin members 26 may conveniently be formed as rods having their ends bent at an angle and threaded. One threaded end 6201 each rod is passed through a hole in the circular wall 24a of the attaching member 24 and is secured therein by nuts 64, 65 while the other threaded end of each bracing member is passed through a hole drilled through the outer ends of the radially extending arms 20 and secured to the arms by nuts 66, 6'! threaded on the threaded sembly and cheapness of cost of parts; and further that when the apparatus is assembled and in use and clothes are suspended from the wires or cords 28 and if a breeze is available such breeze will freely rotate the rotatable head IS with the clothes suspended and thereby aid in dissipatin moisture from the clothes and materially reduce the drying time in connection therewith.

While I- have particularly described and iliustrated a preferred'form of my invention it is to be understood that various changes and modifications of the structure described may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as indicated by the scope of the following claim.

I claim:

A clothes drier including a vertical standard; a tubular lubricant retaining bearing housing carried at the top of said standard; a rotatable head recessed to fit over the top of said vertical housing; a cylindrical part extending vertically upward axially of the vertical standard, said head and cylindrical part being provided with a bore extending axially therethroughj a stem mounted in said bore to extend downwardly from said rotatable head into said bearing housing; a combined radial and thrust bearing arranged in said housing and acting to locate the lower end of said stem; a vertically extending stem secured to said'oylindrical portion of the head; an attaching member secured at the upper end of said stem; a plurality of laterally extending sockets provided by said rotatable head; a plurality of laterally extending arms secured in said sockets, and formed to support a clothes line; and a plurality of bracing ties secured to said attaching member and to the laterally projecting arm's.

FRANK LA PIANA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 7 Name Date 161,406 Grifieth Mar. 30,1875 337,799 Travis Mar. 9, 1886 625,595 Overton May 23, 1899 1,660,973 oestreicher Feb. 28, 1928 1,883,435 zifl'erer Oct. 18, 1932 2,334,518

. Turnbull Nov. 16, 1943 

